Labranda Bahía de Lobos

Really cannot fathom some of the poor reviews on here. Most being completely contrary to our experience. Fail to agree with the gushing praise of the animation team however. Nice hotel, great location, great staff & overall a good holiday. We were the only drop off so check-in was quick, efficient & friendly. Room was ready on arrival which was well ahead of the advised time. Map provided & advice on restaurants & opening times etc. We certainly didn't have our wristbands "slapped on". All of the staff, throughout the hotel, were a pleasure to interact with, including the cleaners & maintenance staff, Rooms are huge, clean & well presented. Minor issues include the entrance door catching, the bathroom door not closing fully, the balcony door being hard to close fully & the occasional drip from the air-conditioning. None of this detracted from the enjoyment of our holiday. Wifi did work, although it was occasionally slow. It is free though so no complaints. Even at peak times we were able to stream in HD if we wanted to. Yes, the TV had limited English language channels but so what? There are two restaurants and not once did we have a problem getting a table in either of them. No queues, no wait. May have been the times we went but we never found either restaurant to be busy & didn't have any issues with anyone - staff or guests. One restaurant for breakfast, lunch & snacks at pool level which is bright & airy. Self service, as is typical for AI/HB holidays. No complaints with any of the offerings for breakfast or lunch. It's worth the wait for the freshly prepared omelettes. Main restaurant, downstairs, is for dinner except on Fridays which is BBQ night and held upstairs. Always found something to eat & found the food quality more than acceptable. Always two meats or meat & fish freshly cooked. Several other buffets dishes & vegetarian dishes as well as an extensive range of vegetables. Didn't find any of the meats to be cheap cuts as has been referred to previously. The on-tap house wine was quite nice. Soft drinks & on-tap beer are also available to those on AI package. Water dispenser is somewhat inconveniently located in the opposite corner of the restaurant. Bean to cup coffee machines in upstairs restaurant & one in reception. Really nice espresso & OH had no complaints with the lattes Main pool was absolutely Baltic cold, initially at lease. Never overcrowded though, even with ball games being played & inflatables being used. Music all day but never offensive or offensively loud. Occasional organised pool games but you'd barely know. Animation or so-called animation was lacking & interaction was minimal at best. Information boards were frequently not updated & aside from one or two of the "team" being present I have no idea what most of them did all day. Quiet pool was pretty much empty any time we looked with plenty of sunbeds. We had expected to have problems getting sunbeds as well as possible issues with the sunbeds we

We have just returned from a week at the hotel and felt it would be useful to write the review that we wish we could have read before we confirmed the booking. Hotel First impressions were not that great and the staff were not welcoming at all, they check you in and slap a coloured band around your wrist - a very disappointing start. Rooms Big, clean and modern. Wi-Fi is absolutely terrible, almost non- existent - if you have kids who like using an iPad, be warned as they’ll be disappointed. TV only has a few UK channels. Restaurant Aimed at a fully inclusive customer, we went with half board only but there is only one main restaurant so you get the same food options as everyone else - mass produced meals, the salad bar is ok but apart from that it’s pasta, chips, pizza, burgers, ribs etc - in other hotels, dinner has often felt like a treat but in this hotel it’s very functional and basic. The attitude of some hotel guests is a bit of a shock , no-one wants to queue, people just push in and help them self to food, the restaurant is usually packed so expect to feel ‘rushed’ into making a decision, food is basic but ok, not memorable and not something to look forward to … we decided to eat out on a couple of evenings even though we had already paid for evening meals as part of our booking. Plates, glasses, bowls and cutlery were often not replenished quickly enough. Tables were often tricky to find as it’s so busy. The coffee machine either dispensed poor quality coffee or was broken , if you want a decent coffee go to one of the nearby cafes which are all pretty good. Entertainment Early evening is a kids disco and then some kind of poor quality entertainer at approx 9 onwards, we gave that a wide berth. Pools The main pool is packed, really noisy and has loud music playing all day - we stupidly paid extra for a pool view room and wish we hadn’t bothered, if you want a quiet room, ask for one that is not near to the main pool. We were woken up early on Sunday morning to the sounds of Ra Ra Rasputin - not funny when you were hoping for a relaxing break. There is a smaller quiet pool that is better but nothing to get excited about. At both pools, there was a lack of available sunbeds and not enough umbrellas …. We lost count of the amount of badly sunburnt guests staggering around with their all inclusive pints of beer - has no-one heard of skin cancer here ? Hotel facilities Feels a bit like the hotel isn’t quite big enough for the volume of guests. No shop, a very basic bar, most areas were busy as there isn’t enough space. Location Once you leave the hotel, the location is pretty good, right in the town centre with loads of cafes, souvenir shops and also nicer quality brands and independent shops. Head down to the marina to find the old town with nice one-off shops, restaurants and local canarians with cute dogs. Weather The weather is perfect - sunny every day with a lovely breeze to keep you cool but beware of the sun as